In Memoriam
by QuakerJoe
Summary: What would you do for the woman you loved? [complete]
1. Bliss

IN MEMORIAM  
  
What would you do for the woman you loved?  
  
----- -----  
  
Disclaimer:  
  
Ranma 1/2 is not mine to do with as I please, et cetera  
  
----- -----  
  
-PART ONE: BLISS-  
  
"This is so eerie," Akane said as she looked down at her own grave.  
  
She felt Ranma hold her a little tighter, and she rested her head against him, smiling appreciatively. She felt so safe in his arms. So warm...  
  
But she could feel the underlying tension, the fear in him. She knew he was terrified of losing her. He held her now because he was afraid that if he let go she might be taken from him again. Standing this close to her own grave, she could perhaps understand.  
  
She didn't even remember the first time. She remembered falling from a bridge, Ranma calling desperately after her, but unable to reach her as she fell deeper and deeper into a ravine.  
  
But she didn't remember hitting the ground, she didn't remember her life being stolen from her by the unyielding rocks at the bottom of the ravine.  
  
"I thought I'd lost you forever," Ranma said softly.  
  
The fall had... had killed her. That's what she had been told at least. Looking down at her grave, which contained her cremated remains...  
  
It was too strange to believe, and yet it was true! She'd died, and somehow she'd come back. Somehow, Ranma had found a way to bring her back.  
  
The next thing she remembered was waking up in a bed in a room she didn't recognize (in China no less). Ranma had been waiting at her bedside, and as soon as he had seen her awake, he'd just flung his arms around her and started crying like a child.  
  
She could barely understand the incoherent babbling that had followed, and she'd been desperately confused, trying to understand what had happened, why Ranma was holding her so tightly, almost as though he was afraid she'd float away.  
  
Then she'd heard him say it. She'd heard those words that she had wanted to hear for so long.  
  
"Akane, I love you."  
  
When she heard that, when she had looked in his eyes and seen that it was no joke, no dream, nothing else, not falling down a ravine, not waking up hundreds of miles away, mattered anymore. Had she been on a sinking, burning ship up to her waist in sea water she wouldn't have noticed.  
  
They just held each other for a while after that, Akane feeling like her heart could burst at any moment. He loved her! That was all that mattered.  
  
That was a week ago. The euphoria of that moment still hadn't really died down. She could just stay here forever and let him hold her, feeling his heart beat so close to hers...  
  
Except this was her own grave she was standing next to! She'd died, her body was cremated and buried here. No matter how happy she was, how content she felt now, she couldn't get rid of those nagging questions.  
  
How had she come back? Why had she come back?  
  
All she knew was that Ranma had brought her back. She didn't know how, and he wouldn't tell her. A part of her desperately wanted to know the truth, how he could have possibly brought her back to this world, and yet... she wouldn't try to force the truth out of him. In time, when he was ready, he'd tell her.  
  
"What are they going to do with this?" she asked. What do you do with the grave of someone who's been brought back to life? She didn't know why she'd wanted to come here, morbid curiosity, a desire to put the past to rest, but now she wished she hadn't.  
  
"I don't know," Ranma said. "Let's get out of here, Akane."  
  
"All right."  
  
-----  
  
Months passed. Akane soon realized that nobody was comfortable around her. Everybody looked at her different, wondering, fearing. In many ways they echoed the questions she herself still hadn't answered. How could she have come back from the dead? Was she even the same person? What was she?  
  
Everybody feared her, shunned her, except Ranma. And that only brought them closer together. The old fights, the old arguments, all the hurtful things they used to say to each other, none of that seemed real anymore. As she tried to get back to the life she had left, he was always there for her.  
  
One day she had asked him, straight out. "What am I?"  
  
His response had been simple. "You're Akane, that's all that matters."  
  
But even he was still afraid. He was still afraid of loosing her. He'd slept outside her door every night since she'd gotten back. Though he always made sure to wake up early and sneak back to his room, so she wouldn't find out, she knew he was doing it. It was childish of him, as though he expected her to vanish if he left her side for too long. Childish and foolish.  
  
And sweet.  
  
But it couldn't stay this way. He couldn't stay camped outside her door. So one night she'd decided to put an end to it, once and for all.  
  
Late that night she quietly opened her door, feeling a warmth run through her as she saw him sleeping fitfully next to the doorway. She nudged him awake ever so lightly with her foot.  
  
"A... Akane!" he said once he had fully awakened, startled.  
  
"This is ridiculous," Akane said sternly. "I'm not going anywhere Ranma. You don't have to sleep outside my door."  
  
Ranma looked shamefaced as he got to his feet. "I'm... I'm sorry," he said. "I... I guess I should go to bed."  
  
He started to walk past, but Akane snagged his arm, feeling her heart pound. A part of her couldn't believe she was doing this, that she was even considering it.  
  
"That's... that's not what I mean," she said.  
  
Ranma looked at her, uncomprehending. She kissed him tenderly.  
  
"I... I mean that... you... you don't have to stay outside," she said softly as she took his hand in hers. "You can come in."  
  
She led him into her room, shutting the door behind them.  
  
-----  
  
The months went on into years. They were married after graduation. The ceremony was beautiful, and everyone wished them well. The fear and uncertainty everyone had felt around her had faded long ago, and even Akane had begun to put those unanswered questions behind her. They simply didn't matter.  
  
Married life was like a dream for her, one she hoped to never wake up from. Ranma was an utterly devoted husband and later, when their daughter was born, a wonderful father.  
  
They'd taken over the dojo, of course. They both taught regular classes, though it was obvious that Ranma occasionally got frustrated with students who couldn't grasp what he considered simple techniques. He didn't seem to always understand that what was simple for him was sometimes impossible for most everyone else.  
  
That was why Akane taught most of the basic classes. Ranma instead concentrated on passing on the fighting techniques he'd managed to learn to the most dedicated students. Even then they often had trouble keeping up.  
  
The people that had had so much impact on their lives for that one brief but seemingly endless year when they were sixteen had mostly drifted away, following their own paths. Ryoga and Akari had gotten together and moved away after Akane had... had died, and they hadn't been seen since. Akane didn't even know if they knew she was alive. Shampoo had found someone to love in Herb, the new leader of the Musk Dynasty. Their marriage had apparently brought new unity and strength to both the Amazon tribe and the Dynasty. Mousse had followed Shampoo, as could be expected. For a while he tried to supplant Herb in Shampoo's heart, but in time he learned to move on.  
  
After high school, the Kunos more or less disappeared from their lives. It was as though it was all just a childhood flight of fancy for them, remembered fondly but not to be repeated. Neither Ranma nor Akane found much reason to complain.  
  
Akane's family had likewise grown apart. Her father was taken from her by lung cancer shortly after she and Ranma got married. Nabiki moved to the city to find her fortunes. Kasumi met a nice man and settled in to a quiet life as a housewife.  
  
Only Ranma's parents and Ukyo seemed to keep in regular contact anymore. Akane's sisters would visit, of course, but those visits were few and far between.  
  
Still, they were happy. The chaos that marked their first year together had long since faded away. Their lives together were peaceful, content, and full of love.  
  
But it couldn't last forever.  
  
-----  
  
It began as a simple realization, one seemingly innocent and long overdue, yet surprising none the less. Akane and Ranma were in the kitchen doing the dishes together (Akane had never imagined that Ranma could be so helpful or so sweet, but he was. Ever since she had... returned, he'd become almost a different person. Sometimes she almost felt spoiled by the attention he lavished on her). Omi, their now six year old daughter, had already gone to bed.  
  
For most of the time it was just like any other time. Ranma washed the dishes, Akane dried. They chatted about how their day had been, how the students were doing. But... little by little something began to nag at the back of Akane's mind. For reasons she couldn't even fathom she began thinking of old friends and old pets.  
  
It was... like watching a puzzle slowly fall into place piece by piece. She dried the dishes as things clicked together in her mind bit by bit. Finally, she saw the whole picture.  
  
"Ryoga..." she said hesitantly, "Ryoga and P-chan, they were one and the same, weren't they?"  
  
Ranma looked at her with surprise and... for a moment, the briefest of moments... fear?  
  
"It all makes so much sense," Akane said, "I can't believe I never realized it before."  
  
Ranma said nothing.  
  
"I feel like such a fool," Akane continued. "Why didn't you tell me?"  
  
"I..." Ranma was hesitant, as though he couldn't find the right words to explain. "I promised him I wouldn't."  
  
"All that time," Akane said. "He slept in my bed, he sat there an watched as I got undressed." She fixed Ranma with an angry glare. "You should have told me!"  
  
Ranma looked down, a little ashamed. Well good, Akane decided. He should be ashamed. Letting her make a fool of herself for all that time...  
  
Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden searing pain in her head, as though a white hot knife had just been thrust into her skull. The pain was unbearable. She dropped to her knees, the plate she had been drying shattering on the floor as she clutched her head.  
  
She heard Ranma cry her name as she blacked out.  
  
-----  
  
Nightmares. The cloak of unconsciousness greeted Akane with terrors she couldn't even begin to understand. She ran, fearing for her life, scenes she recognized but couldn't recognize playing out around her, scenes from a life she had never lived impossibly juxtaposed with scenes from her own life.  
  
And she ran, her tormenter, her killer, her lover following her, wanting to take her life, wanting to destroy her and wipe her from existence. Why was he doing this? She'd given her heart to him without reservation, loved him more than life itself, and he wanted to destroy her. Part of her demanded to know how this could have happened, how everything could have become so twisted and wrong. Another part, a part she couldn't begin to understand, was... was hurt. Somehow she felt hurt that he wouldn't ask her to do this... that he was just forcing it upon her, because... because she would do it. For him she would give up her life. If only he had asked her...  
  
And yet she ran, because she didn't want to die, didn't want to cease to be, to return to nothingness.  
  
Her killer followed her, calling after her. He told her this had to be, told her that for her to live, the light must be extinguished. What did it mean? He meant to destroy her to allow her to live. She didn't understand, couldn't understand. She ran.  
  
But she was not fast enough to escape. He was upon her, forcing her into the water. Oh god, she couldn't breathe, she was drowning!  
  
She looked up to see her lover through the water, forcing her under with all his strength. He was in the water with her, his eyes crazed with grief, but he was changing, right before her eyes he was changing... into her...  
  
She fought against him, tried to escape his grip, but she could not. She felt the water invade her lungs. She felt something else... something alien... something that no longer had a place in this world... invading her soul...  
  
Her lover held her under water, and the other watched from shore. He did nothing, made no move to stop what was happening. He only watched with dead eyes.  
  
Until the end.  
  
----- 


	2. Love

IN MEMORIAM  
  
What would you do for the woman you loved?  
  
----- -----  
  
Disclaimer:  
  
Ranma 1/2 is not mine to do with as I please, et cetera  
  
----- -----  
  
-PART TWO: LOVE-  
  
-the past-  
  
Yesterday, Akane Tendo was laid to rest.  
  
Ranma stood next to the grave, feeling hollow and empty. The rain pouring down from above had already soaked him through to the bone. It was almost as though the rains were mocking him, reminding him what his pride had cost him.  
  
Akane had died for that pride. Try as he might, he couldn't banish the images that would haunt him for the rest of his life.  
  
They'd found the waters of restoration, sacred water which would lift their curses once and for all. He and Ryoga had beaten the guardian and stepped forward to take a drink, a drink that would cure them. Akane was there, she had refused to stay behind this time because she was tired of staying at home and waiting while everyone else risked their lives in some distant land. Though he had tried to talk her out of it, Ranma couldn't deny that part of him had been... happy... to have her along. Happy for her company.  
  
He remembered clearly looking back to her before taking a drink of the waters of restoration. He remembered the happy look she wore as she waited for him on the bridge leading to the well. He had finally found his cure and she was happy for him.  
  
Ryoga had been the first to drink. He'd made up some excuse or other about why he needed the water so Akane wouldn't become suspicious. Ranma didn't remember what. It didn't matter. Ryoga was driven to his knees by the affects of the water, and for a moment Ranma had thought that he had been poisoned. Then Ryoga had cried out in ecstasy that he could feel it working.  
  
That had been enough for Ranma, and he too drank the water, feeling the power of it flowing through him. The feeling... it was incredible, beyond any description. He too was driven to his knees, barely able to cope with the sensations rushing through his body like lightning.  
  
That must have been what the guardian was waiting for, waiting for that moment when his two strongest opponents would be laid low by the waters of restoration. He'd risen again to strike, almost casually batting Akane aside, sending her plummeting over the edge of the bride, into the ravine below...  
  
Ranma could feel the tears coming to his eyes, the vice grip on his heart, as he recalled it again. Akane fell screaming into the ravine, and there was nothing Ranma could do but call desperately to her, he couldn't even move. There was nothing he could do.  
  
He didn't remember much after that. Ryoga destroyed the guardian, every drop of his pain and grief at seeing Akane fall to her death unleashed at once on her killer. Afterwards it was all just a daze of pain, suffering, and grief as Ranma worked his way down the mountain to find the body of the girl he loved.  
  
He fell to his knees by her grave as he started to cry. There was no hiding it anymore. He loved her. He'd been in love with her for a long time, and now she had been taken from him. All the chances they had had been wasted, all those opportunities to tell her how much she meant to him were gone, and now there was nothing. Only a grave, a stone marker, and the rain. The cold, mocking rain.  
  
But then the rain was taken away. He no longer felt the rain pelting him, only hearing a dull pop pop pop.  
  
He looked up to see Akari holding an umbrella over him.  
  
"You'll get sick," she said, her voice sympathetic, but sad.  
  
She'd been here since before he arrived, but he'd forgotten about her. He wanted to push away the umbrella, to tell her to leave him alone, but he... he couldn't. Something about those eyes, the pain in those eyes, stopped him cold. He said nothing as he got back to his feet.  
  
They stood there for a while, neither of them saying anything. The rain continued its dull pop pop pop against the umbrella.  
  
"I... I came to find Ryoga," Akari said quietly. "He left a week ago and I haven't seen him since. I thought he might be here."  
  
So that was why she was here.  
  
"She meant so much to him," Akari continued. "I never realized how much until... until after it happened. With her gone... its like he doesn't see the point of living anymore."  
  
"Sometimes I want to hate her," she said. "What she's done to him, what loving her did to him. I want to hate her for the pain he's feeling now. I know he would never feel that pain for me if I were gone..."  
  
"Akane didn't do anything," Ranma said softly. He was just too drained to say much more.  
  
"I know," Akari said. "None of this is her fault, it's nobody's fault."  
  
You're wrong, Ranma thought, it is somebody's fault. It's my fault.  
  
"But there's nothing I can do," Akari said. She looked like she was about to cry. "I love him, and I can't take away his pain, I can't make it right again. I can't stand to see him suffer like this."  
  
She tried to compose herself, and more or less succeeded. "I just have to be strong for him," she said. "I just have to do what I can for him."  
  
Almost as though Akari's words had summoned him, Ranma sensed another, familiar presence stepping up next to him, though the rain hid any sound he made in his approach.  
  
"Ranma," Ryoga said, an urgency clear in his voice, "you have to come with me."  
  
Ranma looked over to his one time rival and was surprised to see the resolve in his eyes. But he didn't care. "Go bug someone else," he said.  
  
"We don't have time for this!" Ryoga snapped. "You have to come with me to China!"  
  
China! Something about the thought of that country only filled Ranma with anger. "Leave me alone!" he shouted. "I ain't interested!"  
  
"You don't understand, Ranma!" Ryoga sounded desperate. "I've found a way, but I need your help! It has to be you!"  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ranma wanted to know. "A way what?"  
  
"I found a way to bring her back!" Ryoga declared.  
  
-----  
  
-the present-  
  
Akane awoke to find herself in a bed at Dr. Tofu's clinic. She was drenched in sweat, and she could feel her heart pounding, leftovers from the terror her nightmare had brought to her.  
  
Dr. Tofu sat next to her bed. Unlike so many times before, there was no look of calm, cheerful reassurance on his face. When she saw his face, she saw uncertainty, fear, and horror that he couldn't conceal.  
  
The sight chilled her to the bone.  
  
She could see him try to adopt a nonchalant look. "How are you feeling, Akane?" he asked. It wasn't working. His eyes... they still reflected something awful.  
  
The pain in Akane's head had lessened greatly, but she could still feel it, still feel the dull ache deep inside her skull. And there were other things too. She felt... it was intangible, it defied description, but she felt... wrong.  
  
"My head hurts," she said as she sat up. "What's wrong with me, doctor?"  
  
"It..." Dr. Tofu paused, like he was trying to find the right words to say. "It's nothing you need to worry about. It's probably just a migraine."  
  
She didn't believe him. She didn't believe him one bit. There was more he wasn't telling her. She could read it in his eyes. "It's because of me," she said. "It's because I... came back. I can feel it."  
  
Dr. Tofu said nothing.  
  
"What's going to happen to me?" Akane demanded.  
  
"Nothing's gonna happen to you," Ranma said as he came into the room. "You're gonna be fine. I've just gotta go get some stuff for you from China."  
  
"China?" Akane felt a feeling of fear. He was going to China. Somehow the thought filled her with terror.  
  
Ranma sat on the bed and took her hand. "I'll only be gone for a few days," he said, trying to reassure her. "After that, you can get well and things can go back to normal."  
  
She held his hand, and accepted his reassuring words. The fear was still there, and once again old questions that she had long forgotten had returned. What was she?  
  
But still, she accepted his words as he embraced her and held her close for a moment. She knew she could put her faith in him, that he would do everything in his power for her.  
  
He looked into her eyes. "I won't let anything happen to you."  
  
She nodded. "I know."  
  
------  
  
-the past-  
  
"Here it is," Ryoga said as they stood before the entrance to a cave.  
  
"What is this place?" Akari asked. She'd refused to be left behind, wanting to accompany Ranma and Ryoga on their journey deep into China's Bayankala mountain range. Ranma had been against it. After Akane... But Akari had insisted, and Ryoga had agreed.  
  
Something had been going on between Ryoga and Akari. All through this trip they had shared a tent, and what they had been doing hadn't been hard to guess. But why would he let her come along at all? Why would Ryoga put Akari in danger like this?  
  
"It's the home of an ancient mystic," Ryoga said. "The Musk Dynasty comes to him for advice. He's powerful, and he has a way to..." he hesitated, as though he was afraid speaking it would curse them, "...to bring Akane back."  
  
He entered the cave. Ranma and Akari both followed without a word.  
  
As they ventured deeper into the darkness of the cave, the only light provided by their flashlights, Ranma realized something. It seemed silly to think of it now, but Ryoga hadn't gotten lost once. He'd led them exactly to where they needed to go. Or if he hadn't, he seemed pretty sure of himself.  
  
"Hey Ryoga," Ranma said, "are you sure you know where you're going?"  
  
Ryoga didn't answer. He just kept going.  
  
"It's because he loves her so much," Akari said softly. "This is his only chance to bring her back."  
  
Ranma didn't say anything.  
  
"I'm just her replacement," Akari said. There was a trace of bitterness in her voice.  
  
A voice echoed through the darkness. "The echo of fangs once again haunts my dwelling," it called. "It does not learn. I told it that I cannot help it with what it seeks. What it wants is beyond its abilities. The connection must be both ways I told it. The scarlet cord must bind the suffering to the lost, but so too must it bind the lost to the suffering. It does not understand."  
  
Ranma was on his guard at once, searching for the source of the voice, but he couldn't find it. He didn't have any idea where it was coming from.  
  
"I do understand," Ryoga said, "and I've brought someone who can do it. You have to help us."  
  
"Help the echo of fangs?" the voice responded. "I was beyond ancient when Hideyoshi crossed the sea dreaming of empire. Before Himeko ruled in its land I had known hundreds of generations. I remember the star of the savior in the west, and have counseled Sun Wu. Now it tells me what I must do. Such presumption."  
  
There was silence for a moment before the voice began speaking again.  
  
"Oh ho," it said, "others have come as well. What would bring a rice farmer's wild horse into my house? It is most unsanitary. But this other... A bright lamp gripped in the claw of a dragon soaring among the clouds! Beautiful! Why hasn't the echo realized what it has? Why must it persist in chasing the lost scarlet divinity?"  
  
"That's none of your business!" Ryoga shouted.  
  
"Echo echo," the voice said in an almost mocking singsong tone. "Echo of love, false, nothing but reflection. Not real at all, just an echo of lost dreams. But the horse..."  
  
Ranma felt... something. Like otherworldly eyes were watching him. The voice kept speaking.  
  
"This farmer's horse, what it has is real. Yes, I see it now, I see what the echo hoped for me to see. It seeks the scarlet divinity... no... it seeks the scarlet rice farmer."  
  
"You're talking about Akane, aren't you?" Ranma demanded. "Are you saying I can bring her back?"  
  
"The wild horse has the link," the voice said. "It has the connection. The link between the horse and the scarlet divinity extends beyond the mortal realm. It is the scarlet cord between the lost and suffering. It need only know how to pull to raise up what it desires."  
  
"Then tell me what I need to do!"  
  
"The wild horse is eager, this I understand well, but I do not believe it understands the cost. This world and other world are always in balance, soul for soul. One cannot upset the scales. Try as it might, the scales will be balanced in the end."  
  
"I'll do whatever it takes!" Ranma declared.  
  
"I believe it will." There was silence for a couple of moments. "Very well. My services shall be granted, and I shall tell it what it wants to know. I shall tell it the purpose for what it calls Jusenkyo."  
  
-----  
  
-the present-  
  
Ranma had been gone for days, and as she sat on the porch looking at the stars, Akane could feel his absence like a knife in her heart.  
  
She realized that this was the first time since... since she had come back, that she and Ranma had ever been separated for more than a few hours. It was funny. When they had first met all those years ago, she had never imagined how much it would hurt to not have him close to her.  
  
She was afraid. Every night when she slept, nightmares awaited her. She couldn't remember any of them, only that they filled her with terror, horror, and a sense, an inescapable feeling that she didn't belong in this world anymore, that her very existence was wrong. On those nights she wanted, so desperately wanted Ranma to be there, to be there for her when she woke up in terror, to hold her and chase away the demons, and tell her it was all okay. But he wasn't there.  
  
She needed him. She could feel it in her heart. She needed to hold him again, to tell him she loved him again, because...  
  
Somehow, she knew she was running out of time.  
  
"Momma," her daughter called to her as she ran out onto the porch and flung her arms around Akane's neck in an exuberant hug. "Dinner's ready. I helped Auntie Ukyo do the cooking."  
  
Akane smiled as she returned Omi's hug. "I can tell," she said. Her daughter's arms and face were covered in flour. "You need to go wash up before you make a mess everywhere."  
  
Omi pouted at the idea, but she didn't raise a complaint. "Yes Momma," she said dejectedly. "When's daddy going to get back from his trip?"  
  
For a moment Akane felt a brief twinge of pain in her heart. "He'll be back soon," she said. She kissed her daughter's forehead. "Now get going. After dinner we'll go get some ice cream."  
  
That brightened Omi's eyes considerably. "Okay momma!" The six year old shot off like a rocket.  
  
Ukyo came over and sat down next to Akane. "Are you sure you're up to it?" she asked.  
  
Akane nodded. Ranma had asked Ukyo to stay at the house and keep an eye on her while he was away. "I'll be fine. The headaches aren't as bad as they used to be." It was more or less true. The pain wasn't as intense as it had been before. Most of the time, she barely noticed it anymore. "Will Daisuke be joining us?"  
  
Ukyo shook her head. "He has to work late tonight. He wanted to take me up to Hokkaido for the weekend, but..." Her voice trailed off.  
  
Akane winced. Ukyo and Daisuke had been going out together off and on since their last year in high school. It never really seemed to get very serious between them, but Akane felt a little ashamed that she was taking Ukyo away from someone she cared about. "I'm sorry."  
  
"No," Ukyo said, "it's okay. I'm happy to help you out."  
  
"You don't have to stay," Akane said. "Really, I'll be fine."  
  
"It's no problem," Ukyo said. "It's nice to get away from the restaurant for a while. Besides, Ranma asked me to stay with you. There'll be other times to see Hokkaido."  
  
Akane could hear a hint of worry in her voice, though Ukyo hid it well. Akane knew that she, Ranma, and Omi had become very important to Ukyo. She'd been on her own for so long that they had practically become her family, and now she was afraid that something terrible was about to happen to that family.  
  
"I'm going to be okay," Akane said. She didn't believe it, but she felt she had to say it.  
  
"Yeah," Ukyo said. "Everything is going to be okay."  
  
From inside the house, Omi began hollering that it was time to eat.  
  
-----  
  
Far away, Ranma had returned to the cave.  
  
"The horse returns," the voice said. "It did not listen, it did not understand, the scales balance. The scales always balance."  
  
"You know what's happening to Akane!" Ranma called out. "Tell me how to make her well again."  
  
The voice laughed a sad laugh. "It did not listen. Only heard what it wanted to hear. Wanted all it did. Sought the scarlet rice farmer. Could not move beyond. Like the echo, tragic tragic echo now silent, the lamp now dim, but perhaps not forever."  
  
"You have to help me!" Ranma demanded.  
  
"It does not understand, it only rages and demands. It got what it wanted, it got its scarlet rice farmer. Now it complains in its petty mortal view that the time is too short. It understands well that it anchors the scarlet rice farmer to this world but it assumes that the scarlet cord can be stronger than the scales, that the scales may remain tipped for eternity. It is wrong, the scales will balance and the scarlet rice farmer will return to its place."  
  
"I won't let her die again!" Ranma declared. "Tell me what I have to do!"  
  
"Poor echo, echo, silenced because it could not move beyond. A sad, sad affair. It failed to extinguish the lamp. The lamp is dim, but growing brighter, yes, brighter. Soon it will glow brightly again and it will soar again among the clouds."  
  
The voice paused. When it spoke again, it was almost grave, as though for the first time it understood the pain of the mortals who sought its counsel.  
  
"The scales will balance. Will always balance," it said. "It knows what it must do." 


	3. Truth

IN MEMORIAM

What would you do for the woman you loved?

-----

-----

Disclaimer:

Ranma 1/2 is not mine to do with as I please, et cetera

-----

-----

-PART THREE: TRUTH-

"Here you go, miss," the waitress said as she set down the biggest sundae Akane had ever seen in front of her daughter. "Enjoy your ice cream."

"You can't possibly eat all of that," Ukyo said.

Omi had an almost predatory gleam in her eye as she attacked the sundae. "Yes I can," she said between bites.

"Slow down, Omi," Akane admonished. "Act like a lady."

"Yes momma," Omi said, though she didn't seem to appreciably slow down her assault on the sundae. Akane shook her head in exasperation.

"Just like your father," she said.

Omi stopped and looked up. "But daddy says that guys don't eat this stuff. He says it's too girlie."

Akane heard Ukyo chuckle at Omi's objection, and she couldn't help but smile herself. Even after he had finally gotten his curse cured, Ranma could never really give up chocolate sundaes, but he was just too embarrassed to eat one in public, or apparently even admit to his daughter that he ate them. She had lost count of all the times she'd gone out to an ice cream shop late after Omi had gone to bed and brought home a sundae for each of them. It was silly of him to be so self concious, but Akane didn't mind one bit. The quiet, romantic moments, just the two of them, were worth it.

She wished he was here now.

"Akane," Ukyo said, "you aren't eating your sundae."

Akane looked down at her ice cream, as yet untouched. Somehow it just didn't seem apetizing to her.

"Can I have it?" Omi asked, her face already covered with chocolate syrup.

"You haven't even finished your own, Omi," Akane said.

"I meant after I finished it," Omi said.

Akane shook her head. Honestly...

A searing pain shot through her skull, shooting straight through from her temple to the base of her neck like a bullet before fading in an instant. She couldn't help but wince at the pain.

"Akane," Ukyo's voice was full of concern. "Are you okay?"

Even as the pain subsided images flashed though Akane's mind, images she couldn't understand. And somewhere, deep inside she felt... no... that wasn't right. Somehow she felt... but didn't feel it, like she was watching someone else and seeing their emotions...

Hurt, pain, betrayal, sadness.

Then, as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone.

"I... I'm fine," she said. What had happened? What did it all mean?

Ukyo didn't believe it. "We should take you home," she said.

"But I'm not done!" Omi whined.

-----

He supposed there was no way he'd forget where they were.

Three stones, seemingly natural but clearly out of place, clearly placed by human hands, sat in a line in the field. Two of them marked graves, a friend he'd lost and an enemy he'd killed, buried together in this soil, one far from home, another within sight of the home, family and friends that she had known.

And the third stone... It marked ground empty save for two small, innocent looking items.

"This is where you hid it?" his travelling companion asked.

"I didn't hide it," Ranma said. "I just... there's nothing left of her."

His travelling companion didn't say a word. Ranma wondered if the man understood. After everything... she should have something, some proof that she existed.

But now he was taking that away. He got on his hands and knees and started digging into the cold earth. He didn't dare use a shovel. If he were to damage what he was looking for, if something were to happen to it...

His companion watched dispassionately. Finally he spoke again.

"Why did you do it, Saotome?" he asked.

"It was the only way," Ranma said. "It was the only way we could be together again. She died because of me, because of my pride. She didn't deserve it. I owe her a chance to live."

But that wasn't enough, was it? Everything he had done to bring Akane back, the blood that was on his hands, there was no way he could atone for that. Now she was dying again, being ripped from this world, and there was only one thing he could do to stop it, one way left to save her.

"You're a fool," his companion said.

"Then why are you helping me?" Ranma asked.

The man scoffed. "My wife asked it of me. If it were my choice I'd boil you alive."

-----

Where was she? What was this place?

Akane had found herself in a cave, a place she didn't know, one she couldn't recognize. The pain was gone, the disturbing emotions that had lurked at the back of her mind vanished. Somehow the absence of those feelings, the ones that had haunted her for days, now filled her with terror.

"Get out of here," a voice, a terrifyingly familiar voice said.

Akane turned to see the cave populated with children. They were her children, Omi, others she didn't know but instinctively knew were hers. Visions of what would come. She saw herself comforting them, holding them as babies when they cried, seeing them off to school, watching them grow and mature.

"This isn't yours," the voice said, full of bitterness and hatred. "You have no right to it!"

Akane saw her grandchildren, her great grand children. She saw a life filed with love and happiness. She saw her and Ranma growing old together, surrounded by loved ones.

"You stole it from us!" the voice shouted. "You and Ranma took it from us! Give it back!"

She knew the voice, knew who was speaking, but she didn't dare to look.

"You don't belong here!" the voice cried in rage. "Give me back my life!"

-----

Then she awoke, finding herself in the bed her and Ranma had shared for so many years. The pain in her head was beyond comprehension, but she barely noticed it, paralyzed with terror.

"No..." she whispered quietly, "please... no..."

She remembered everything.

-----

The past. The cave.

"Man is a pathetic creature stumbling through the twilight of this world," the voice said, "a creature trying to find its way and fearing the falling darkness of night. Man is a fool that cannot accept what must be, and will fight against it with all its strength. For it, night must fall so that the sun may dawn again, but it is afraid."

"Long ago, there was a nothing man, a creature for which there is no name, which sought to escape its nightfall. It drew upon its powers to create magical waters which flowed to the springs that it calls cursed. It sought to anchor its soul to this world, so that it could be recalled and live again forever. And so it created the springs, to create a vessel to harbor its returned soul."

"Each spring serves to create the vessels to allow the return of souls, but few such souls have the strength of will needed to create the vessel, and few of the springs can create vessels which can house a returned soul. The Scarlet Divinity is one of the few, the strongest willed creature in centuries. The strength of its soul is such that it leaves an imprint on this world of twilight. The horse has seen this, how those bathed in the spring are the twin of that which it seeks. To achieve what it seeks, a vessel must be prepared in the spring, then it is ready to receive the soul of the lost... but only if it is empty."

"The souls of this world and the next must remain in balance, and two souls cannot exist for long within the same vessel. To bring back the soul it seeks, another must be given in its place. This was the cost that the nothing man had not understood. It's quest to avoid the darkness cost it the soul of the woman it loved in this world, gone to the next world so that its body could become a vessel for the nothing man. This is the price the horse must face, if it wishes to bring back the lost scarlet divinity."

-----

Ukyo was awakened by Akane's piercing scream of pain. Without hesitation she rushed into the hall, where she found the door to Akane's room open and the room itself deserted. From downstairs came the crash of breaking glass.

Omi poked her head out of her doorway. "What's goin on?" she asked.

"Just go back to bed, Omi," Ukyo said. "Everything is fine."

"Momma sounded like she's hurting," Omi said, her voiced carried a tone of concern.

"Don't worry," Ukyo said, though inside she was on the edge of panic. "It's probably just another headache. I'll go get her some aspirin and everything will be fine."

Omi nodded and disappeared back into her room, though Ukyo could see how afraid she was. She shared that fear. Somehow she knew that this illness that plagued Akane was something terrible, something that was slowly destroying her. She'd prayed that Ranma would return with a cure soon, but...

What if he was too late?

Ukyo hurried to the kitchen, and there she found Akane, slumped on the floor sobbing, a small hand mirror lay broken on the floor next to a kettle.

"Why didn't I change?" Akane whispered. "Why?"

Ukyo looked around the room, trying to understand what had happened. The burner on the stove was still on, steam wafted from water spilt on the floor.

Boiling water. Akane had doused herself with boiling water.

"What are you doing, Akane?" Ukyo asked. Boiling water... why? What was happening to her?

"It's a lie, all a lie," Akane whispered.

"Akane, please, talk to me," Ukyo pled. "Tell me what's wrong."

"No matter how hot the water is I can't change back," Akane said. Then she finally seemed to realize that Ukyo was there. She looked up and the tears flooded into her eyes. "Oh god Ukyo, I remember everything..."

Ukyo didn't say anything at all.

"I don't belong here," Akane said in a hushed whisper, "I'm not Akane. It's all a lie..."

Then she collapsed.

"Akane!" Ukyo rushed to her side. "Wake up, please!" she pled, but nothing she could do would rouse Akane.

The back door opened, and the winds whistled through as someone else entered the kitchen. As she felt the breeze and heard the footsteps, Ukyo prayed it was Ranma come home with a cure.

But it wasn't. "It's started already," the visitor said, her voice full of regret. "I'm too late."

Though the new arrival's Japanese had improved in the years since Ukyo had known her, her accent long vanished, Ukyo still recognized the voice. None the less, she paid it no heed.

"There's nothing you can do for her, Ukyo," the visitor said.

Ukyo felt a flash of anger run through her. "You know what's happening to Akane, don't you Shampoo?" she snapped. "You have to help her!"

"There's nothing I can do to help," Shampoo said. "Ranma sent me to ease her suffering, but it's too late. There's nothing I can do to prevent what's happening now."

"What's happening to her?"

"That body's soul is re-emerging," Shampoo said. "It's forcing Akane's soul out, pushing her back to the land of the dead."

"What are you talking about?"

Shampoo said nothing. She only stepped forward and held an ornate, ancient looking kettle over Akane.

"What are you doing?" Ukyo demanded. Then she saw Shampoo's eyes. They held a terrible anguish as Shampoo began pouring the contents of the kettle onto Akane.

And in Ukyo's arms, Akane changed.

"Oh god no..." Ukyo whispered. It couldn't be. It was impossible! "Akari..."

Shampoo nodded gravely. "Yes, Akari. She..." Shampoo had to visibly compose herself, "...she gave up her life to become a vessel to contain Akane's soul, drowning herself in the Akanenichuan. But... Akari's soul wasn't separated from the body, it only went into dormancy for a time, and now it is re-emerging, forcing Akane's soul out."

"She killed herself..." Ukyo whispered. It was too incredible, too terrible to believe. "No... it can't be. It's all just a trick."

Shampoo didn't say anything.

"It's all just a lie," Ukyo declared, desperate, "You're doing this, aren't you, Shampoo? This is all one of your schemes!"

She so wanted to believe it. So desperately... she wanted to believe that this nightmare unfolding around her was nothing but a lie... but she saw Shampoo's eyes... saw the grief in them... and she knew it was true... she knew the woman lying in her arms was Akari, that Akari had died to bring Akane back from the dead.

And in a flash of terrible insight, she knew Shampoo was lying.

"Please... no..."

Akane's nightmares... the specters that had haunted her for all this time... the anger and grief of a woman torn from this world... not one who had given up her life... one who had had it taken from her...

"They'd never let it happen," she whispered, though she knew it wasn't true.

"For love," Shampoo said, "sometimes nothing is too terrible."

A cold, terrible silence hung between them. Ukyo understood it all now. The price that had been paid to bring Akane back, the crimes the man that was still precious to her had committed... She should hate him for this... for all of this... but she couldn't. She only felt numb.

"Is there nothing that can be done for Akane?" Ukyo finally asked in a sad whisper.

"There is only one way to save her from returning to the land of the dead," Shampoo said softly. She didn't say any more, she didn't have to. Ukyo knew what price would be paid. She understood why Ranma wasn't here now...

There came the sound of footsteps, the light footsteps that a young girl makes when she's trying not to be noticed.

Ukyo felt a rush of terror as Omi slipped into the kitchen.

"Where's momma?" the girl asked. "Who are these ladies?"

Oh god... Ukyo didn't know what to say. What could she tell Omi? She could feel the sobs building in her throat and she fought against them with all her might. She couldn't let Omi see her cry...

"Your mother is at the doctor's right now," Shampoo said softly with a polite smile. "She's a little sick, but she'll be fine. I'm afraid my friend had a little accident though while she was making some tea for miss Ukyo."

"Is she okay?" Omi asked.

"She'll be just fine," Shampoo said, the smile never left her face.

"What about momma?" Omi asked.

"She should be back in a few days," Shampoo said. "She just needs some rest and time to heal. Now little girls like you should be in bed at this time of night."

"Are you a doctor?" Omi asked.

"Yes, dear," Shampoo said.

Ukyo laid Akari, the woman she had known as Akane for so long, down on the floor, having finally composed herself. "Let's get you back to bed," she said to Omi.

"I wanna see momma," Omi protested.

"Not tonight," Ukyo said. "She needs to rest, and so do you."

She led the girl back upstairs, tucked her into bed and gave her a goodnight hug and a kiss on the forehead.

"Will momma really be home soon?" Omi asked.

"Yes, Omi," Ukyo said. "Momma will be home soon."

She turned off all but a night light, and left the room. With no sign of emotion she went down the stairs and back into the kitchen, where Shampoo now sat tending to Akari, tears running down her cheeks. She passed her by without a word, leaving the kitchen and passing through the main room into the garden.

Once outside, she dropped to her knees and began to cry.

-----

Ranma looked over the myriad of springs of Jusenkyo. This was it. This was how it would end. He'd come to China to find a way to save Akane, a way for the two of them to be together in this world, but... That was impossible. There was only one way to save her.

"I should kill you and leave you where you fall," Herb said. "You used the treasures of the Musk Dynasty to commit unspeakable crimes, Saotome."

"Then why don't you?" Ranma asked.

"I owe you my life," Herb said. "At the very least I can give you this chance at absolution." He drew a vial from the pouch on his belt, offering it to Ranma.

Ranma took the vial and handed Herb the pail and ladle he had taken from Akari's grave. "As soon as it's done," he said.

Herb nodded his understanding, the hard look he wore slipping ever so slightly, letting the sadness beneath show through.

Ranma took a breath, and stepped towards the springs.

For you, Akane.

-----

This place, this riverbank bathed in light, covered with flowers. Akane knew this place. She had been here before. This was the crossing place between this world and the next.

The nightmare of her soul being ripped from the body it had called its own for so long had been terrible, the full weight of Akari's hatred, of her pain, and betrayal, her overwhelming sadness, had been like fire and ice, burning her away and freezing her soul. And then there were her own feelings of shame, shame that she couldn't help but fight against being driven from this world, that though she knew she didn't belong here, she couldn't help but want to stay, for her daughter, for Ranma...

Ranma... who had committed terrible crimes, who had let Akari die.

Ranma... who she loved with all her heart.

But this could not be. There was no place for her in this world anymore. This was how it had to end...

"Hello Akane."

Akane turned at the sound of the voice through the mists that surrounded them. No... it couldn't be. "Ranma..."

"Yeah," Ranma said, "it's me."

"But it can't be!" Akane said, "you can't be here! This is the place where..." The realization hit her. "No... please no..."

"I'm sorry Akane," Ranma said. "This is the only way. You have to go back."

"You can't do this..." Akane pled. "You have to let me go. You can't give up your life for me!"

"I've done terrible things," Ranma said. "You don't deserve this, I do. I killed..."

"You didn't kill Akari!" Akane protested. "Ryoga did... It wasn't your fault!"

"I killed Kiima," Ranma said softly. "After the sage told us what we needed to do to bring you back, that night I snuck out and went to Phoenix mountain. I told myself that she didn't deserve to live, that she was just some thug and monster who'd kill us all in a heartbeat, anything I could to justify what I wanted to do to her. And I killed her. I just strangled the life out of her. I thought it was the only way I could bring you back to me."

Akane didn't say anything. She hadn't known, she'd had no idea.

"But it didn't work," Ranma said. "I messed something up and I lost my chance. I thought I'd lost you forever, I told myself there was no hope anymore. Ryoga and me, we went back to Jusenkyo, we told ourselves it was just to say goodbye to you in the only place where we still could, but... I think even then I knew what was going to happen. Somewhere deep down I knew that was why Ryoga had brought Akari along. When it happened... I could have stopped him. It would have been so easy to stop him and save her, but I didn't. Ryoga killed Akari and I... I let him do it. And I did that terrible thing to her. I... I knew what we were doing was wrong, but it didn't matter. I told myself she was already dead and it wouldn't make a difference. All that mattered was that I would have you back."

"I've done unspeakable things, Akane," he said. "I killed Kiima. I let Akari die. After that... Ryoga realized what he had done, and he killed himself... and I let that happen too. You... yours isn't the life that should end."

He turned and started walking to the river's edge and the waiting ferryman. On the other shore, he could see Kiima and Ryoga and Akane's father waiting for him. He suddenly realized that Akari wasn't among them, and for a moment he paused. It had worked. For a moment, the briefest moment of mad desperation, he wanted to tell himself that he wasn't a killer, that Akari was alive now, that it was all okay, and he could go back. He wanted to believe that he didn't have to leave Akane, that they could find a way to be together in this world.

But he knew it wasn't true.

"Ranma!" Akane cried, "don't do this!"

Ranma didn't look back, didn't stop, he just kept walking to the crossing. "Omi is the only good that I have brought to this world," he said. "I wanted to be there to see her grow up, but..."

Akane felt herself being pulled away from this place, back to the land of the living. The crossing, Ranma, it all began to fade into an ethereal fog . The only thing she could see was a thread, a strand of red, reaching into the haze. She knew it stretched from her to Ranma, that it always would...

"I love you Akane," Ranma's faint voice came from the fog. "Someday..."

And then darkness.

-----


	4. Goodbye

IN MEMORIAM

What would you do for the woman you loved?

-----

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Disclaimer:

Ranma 1/2 is not mine to do with as I please, et cetera

-----

-----

-EPILOGUE: GOODBYE-

This is the first time I've ever been here.

Mother's grave.

She's only been gone for two years now, and I still remember what she looks like, I can still picture her in my mind as if I'd seen her just yesterday. Her face, her hair, that pigtail she always wore, her sad expression. Always sad, except when she talked about the past, when she talked about father and everything they had shared before he...

...before he died.

There, I said it. I never wanted to say it, to believe it. Father died when I was only six. I don't know how he died. I remember he left on a journey to find something to heal mother's sickness, and he never came back. When mom recovered, she never spoke of it. I never learned how he died, or why she had been so sick. Somehow, though, I knew he was gone forever, but I could never say the words until now.

Mother started wearing a pigtail in her hair after that. I guess it was her way of remembering him. I wish I could, but I can barely remember anything. All I really know of my father are the stories mother told me about their younger days, stories that were sometimes too fantastic to believe.

I cherish those stories, they are the only link I have to my father. They were also the only times that I remember where my mother was truly happy, where she smiled a genuine smile.

Sometimes I wonder... after father died, if I was the only thing keeping mother alive. She just seemed so sad, so tired all the time, like this world was a burden that was crushing her, that she barely had the strength to make it through the day. And yet she struggled on, taking care of me, raising me, alone.

She died less than a month after I moved into my own apartment. It was sudden, unexpected. The doctors couldn't figure out why, only that she died peacefully in her sleep.

For two years afterwards I blamed myself. Before I moved out, we had some fight, I can't even remember what it was about, but I said some awful things to her. Then I left, and then she died. I never got to tell her I was sorry. I never got to say goodbye to my mother.

And I blamed myself, wondering if my leaving, the hateful things I had said, had finally been too much, had finally crushed her. For two years I believed that I had killed my mother.

She'd left me a note, a letter in a sealed envelope with only my name on it, as though she knew this was the end and wanted to give me one final message. I never opened it. I just couldn't. I've kept it for two years, unopened, locked away, terrified of what it would say. Somewhere deep inside I knew that in it she'd blame me for all of this, for father, for her... I knew because in my heart I knew I was responsible, that it was all my fault. I've always known.

For a moment I hear the wind howl, feel its touch as it whips around me, chilling me to the bone.

"The fall of night always comes in time," a voice says. "We fear its approach with every breath until it is upon us, and then we learn to cherish it and the dawn it hearkens."

I turn to see who had spoken. The young man who spoke looks like a Chinese peasant, out of place here. His eyes... they hold an emptiness that is agonizing. I know I never saw him here when I arrived.

"Who are you?" I almost demand. How is it that I feel such fear at his presence?

The young man smiles a faint, sad smile as it starts to rain. "I am nothingness. This endless twilight is my curse. The night will never fall for me."

"What does that mean?" I demand.

"It seeks words of hate and pain from the farmer cloaked in scarlet, because it feels nothing but sadness." He points at my coat, at the pocket containing mother's letter. Why did I bring it with me? "It will know better. Hurt, pain, sadness, they are petty things bound to this mortal world. The farmer in scarlet and her horse have found their place. They will walk together, cloaked in the light of day."

Then he turns and walks away from me, casually strolling as though the rains that were falling with increased ferocity were of no concern to him.

"Omi!" I hear Kazuya call. He'd agreed to wait by the car while I visited mother's grave. Now he comes bearing an umbrella. Without a word he snaps the umbrella open and covers me with it, offering the handle to me. "You didn't take an umbrella with you," he finally says.

I'd asked him to stay behind, but now I feel grateful. "I can't take your umbrella," I tell him, the mysterious visitor already forgotten. "You'll get soaked." This was always like him. Generous to me to a fault.

"I'll be fine," Kazuya says, unwavering in his desire to give me his umbrella. "It's not too far to the car."

"No," I say. Somehow, I don't want him to go. I wanted to be alone in this, alone in my grief, but now I don't. "Please, share it with me?"

He says nothing, only nodding slightly and moving a little closer. I lean against him and he puts his arm around me, loose, not possessive, but protective, comforting. I can feel where the rain had already soaked him while he was bringing me the umbrella, but I don't mind.

My hand finds its way into my coat pocket, and I feel the envelope containing mother's letter. Was this why I came here? I'd spent two years blaming myself, convinced that I had killed my mother, somehow that I had driven father away. Now I was here, and I... I needed to know.

I slip the letter out of my pocket. It's weird. I feel like I should be nervous, that my hands should be trembling, but they aren't. The envelope opens easily, and I take out my mother's letter, my mother's last message to me.

Dearest Omi,

I don't know where to begin, except to tell you that I love you, and I could never be more proud of you, of the woman you've become. There is so much I wish I could be there to see. I would have liked to be there to see you find your place in this world. I would have liked to be there in person when you walked down the aisle. I would have liked to meet my grandchildren face to face, but that isn't meant to be. I can't be there in body, but I will be in spirit.

Please don't be sad Omi. It's just my time, long deferred. For a time, an unworthy moment, I hated being here. I hated what your father had done to keep me here, and I'm sorry. During those times I wasn't the mother you needed.

My being here caused people hurt and suffering, and for that I can never be forgiven, but it also brought good to this world. It let me have you. I'll always cherish that. My being here allowed you to be brought into this world, and that makes it all worthwhile. Now that you've become the woman I knew you would be, my time has finally come. I'll finally see your father again.

You've made me proud. You've made your father proud. Life won't always be easy, but I know you will do fine. You have your father's strength, and you have Kazuya's love. Whatever problems you two have had, it isn't worth it. Hurt, pain, anger, none of these mean anything, and none last forever. Only love.

Goodbye,

Mother.

I want to cry as I finish reading the letter. I embrace Kazuya, pulling him close to me and just holding him, relying on his strength. With my arms around him, I can see the band of gold on one finger. I remember it now, the fight mother and I had had. Before she'd died Kazuya and I had had some fight, some awful stupid fight, and I'd said I wouldn't see him again. Mother had tried to tell me I was being foolish, and I hadn't listened. I'd been hurt and angry and I just lashed out, shouting at her, telling her that she didn't know anything because father had left her. I can't believe I said that...

She couldn't have known that Kazuya and I would make up after she died, that he'd propose to me... She couldn't have known that we'd be man and wife soon.

"I didn't mean it momma," I whisper. "Honest, I didn't. I'm sorry. I didn't mean any of it."

But she hadn't cared about what I had said to her. The awful things I had said hadn't mattered. Mother loved me, she wanted me to be happy, to make my own place in the world, to be loved.

I let go of Kazuya. He reaches up with one hand and gently wipes the tears away from my eyes. He says nothing, but I can see in his eyes the distress. I know he hates to see me cry, that he can't bear the thought of me being so sad, so I smile for him, just a little.

"Let's go home," I say.

Kazuya returns the smile and nods. Before we leave I take one last look at my mother's grave. I'm sorry, but it's okay, because it didn't mean anything. I can almost imagine her watching us from beyond, smiling at what she sees.

I lean against Kazuya and take his hand as we start walking together.

And to my mother and my father, I finally say goodbye.


End file.
